“If history is any guide, the early innovators are the ones who will get slaughtered,” says Ric Edelman, chief executive at Edelman Financial Services in Fairfax, Va., with about $11 billion in assets under management. “The early movers are pioneers, but it’s usually the settlers who succeed.”

The story by Murray Coleman and Corrie Driebusch gives a few recent examples:

Last month, LPL Financial LLC closed its NestWise business aimed at consumers with less than $100,000 in assets. Also Bloomberg LLP, which runs a highly profitable financial data and news business, pulled the plug on its new wealth management startup, BloombergBlack, which was also aimed at the mass affluent market.

“The consolidation is going to continue–there’s just too much basic investment information available online for free,” says Brent Brodeski, chief executive at Savant Capital Management in Rockford, Ill., with $3.4 billion in assets.

About Focus on Funds

As exchange-traded funds and other investing vehicles have ballooned in number, the task of figuring out what works well and what doesn’t has only gotten harder. Barrons.com’s Focus on Funds looks under the hood of ETFs, mutual funds and hedge funds for overlooked values, actionable ideas and the latest pitfalls for fund investors.

Chris Dieterich has covered the U.S. stock market for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. He is a graduate of Regis University and the Missouri School of Journalism.